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Peer Reviews Grease! Entire contents are copyright © 2007 Kate Barry. All rights reserved.
With crippling economies, trouble in far-off lands, and the plain monotony of everyday life, sometimes an escape to yesteryear is the perfect remedy for curing the humdrums. Grease! at the Jewish Community Center's CenterStage is the perfect cure. With an energetic cast, delightful set design, and songs that will get stuck in your head for days, Grease! pleases crowds of all ages. Grease! dazzles as the cast belts out well-known melodies. One of the most entertaining songs is "Mooning" sung by Roger, played by CenterStage veteran Monty Fields, who accents the song with puns within the choreography about rear ends. Lauren Morelli, as Marty, provides powerhouse vocals in her love song "Freddy My Love." Katie Bowles had audiences chuckling throughout the entire production as the beauty school dropout, Frenchy. Jennifer Casey Thompson provides the strong performance vocally as the Leader of the Pink Ladies, Betty Rizzo. And, of course, Ilyse Gordon and Jay Hemphill provide lovable charisma as the sweet-new-girl-turned-bad-Sandy and goofy-leader-of-the-pack-Danny. Other notable performances are Stephanie Marcum as the disciplinarian Ms. Lynch and Brian Bowles as resident nerd Eugene Florcyck. On opening night, a special surprise for the entire audience was to see director John R. Leffert's performance as the sequence-clad teen angel in "Beauty School Drop-Out." The role is normally played by Michael Hayes, but he was unable to perform that night. xx
The costumes and set add to the nostalgia as the students of Rydell High School dance and sing on a giant pink record player, complete with a movable needle. The costumes and wigs are time appropriate; the Pink Ladies wear their jackets with pride as the The Burger Palace Boys strut in their leather jackets. When the Teen Angel sings to Frenchy in the second act, he is accompanied by beauty school attendees in blue sequenced frocks accompanied by curlers in their hair. The scene is a hoot, needless to say. Even the tattered Greased Lightin' mobile received some laughs from the audience as Kenickie, played by Jason Button, rolled it onto the stage with pride. JCC CenterStage uses its facility to the best of its potential and goes beyond expectations. The stage might be smaller than some, but the cast performs like they are on a Broadway stage. At times it was hard to hear, due to a sound system that faded in and out, and the spotlight was a tad out of focus in some scenes, but these technicalities didn't stand in the way of a fun show. With silly antics from the Pink Ladies and Burger Palace Boys, memorable songs, and clever sets, Grease! at CenterStage is guaranteed fun.
Grease! Posted July 29, 2007
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